George Miller was born in Richmond, Calif., and now resides in Martinez. He earned a bachelor's in 1968 from San Francisco State University and a law degree from the University of California-Davis in 1972.

Miller's father was the chairman of the state Senate Finance Committee. Miller practiced law and was a California Senate aide for five years, working for state Sen. George Moscone. He was chairman of the Contra Costa County Democratic Central Committee.

Miller was elected to the U.S. House in 1974.

He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children.

George Miller is a longtime representative who became a key lieutenant of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi when Democrats gained control of the U.S. House after the 2006 elections.

He is the senior Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee. Previously, as chair of the Education and Labor Committee, he and fellow Reps. Henry Waxman and Charles Rangel coordinated their respective committees to help pass the 2010 health care reform bill.

In 2012, when Congress' nonpartisan Government Accountability Office released a critical report finding that companies often know little about their employees' 401(k) plans or the fees associated with them, Miller reacted strongly to the report.

"Middle class families who rely on a 401(k) do not have a fighting chance if employers don't understand how their own plan works," Miller said in May 2012.

A month later, along with Rep. Rosa DeLauro, he led a majority of House Democrats in writing to the White House's top trade official complaining they were being left out of the loop as President Barack Obama's administration negotiated the most consequential trade deal in decades, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement.

In the letter, the Democrats urged U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to make sure "there is ample opportunity for Congress to have input on critical policies that will have broad ramifications for years to come."

Miller has pushed for national standards on juvenile boot camps, a criminal investigation into the deaths of nine people in a Utah mine collapse and new requirements protecting factory workers against combustible dust.

He hailed in June 2010 the House passage of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He called the legislation an important step toward holding Wall Street accountable in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis.

Miller joined fellow Reps. Lynn Woolsey and John Barrow in 2009 in reintroducing a bill that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue rules keeping workplaces free of dust that can fuel fires and explosions.

He sought a federal investigation in 2009 into whether tainted peanut products from a processing plant in Blakely, Ga., were distributed through the federal school lunch program.

Miller was instrumental in passing legislation in 2008 to extend federal immigration and labor laws to cover the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

He backed an effort to make it harder for companies to exempt workers from union protection by classifying them as supervisors. He also helped push legislation through the House to overturn a Supreme Court decision limiting the time workers have to sue their employers for pay discrimination.

Miller and Sen. Tom Harkin sponsored a bill in 2009 making it easier to form labor unions. The Employee Free Choice Act would let a majority of employees at a company organize by signing cards. The so-called card check process differs from current practice, in which employers can require elections by secret ballot. The bill is a top priority for labor officials _ who say the system now tilts against union organizers _ and is strongly opposed by business groups.